Kathleen Bauer, Good Stuff NW, Portland, OR

The Eater:

Kathleen Bauer

What She Does:

Kathleen is a blogger and freelance food writer focused on field-to-plate issues and the people who are changing our food system for the benefit of all of us.

The Story:

Kathleen’s blog, Good Stuff NW, is about living in the Pacific Northwest and trying to connect the dots between what’s happening in the field and what she’s putting on her table. That includes everything from profiles of people working to change the food system, farmers’ markets, seasonal eating, legislative reports and food news. She thinks of the blog as the food magazine she’d like to read—one that, at the moment, doesn’t exist.
In her “previous life,” Kathleen worked as an art director in ad agencies (similar to Mad Men except she actually worked) and eventually started her own freelance business consulting with clients on branding and marketing. She learned about blogs early on, as a helpful tool clients could use as an adjunct to static websites. She started Good Stuff NW in order to teach herself about setting up and maintaining a blog. The name stuck and Kathleen still actively posts to Good Stuff NW, 10 years later.

When Kathleen shares that she is a food writer, people often assume that she writes about chefs and restaurants. But as a freelance writer it’s really only in her budget to eat out on special occasions. But she loves to eat, and eating led her to want to cook, and eventually to ask questions about where her food came from. This inspired her to write about the issues around that, and how to help change what is obviously a broken food system where children are hungry, obesity is an epidemic and chemicals and pesticides are accepted as normal.

In addition to reading about current issues and happenings and the adventure that Kathleen went on to find and cook her dinner, Good Stuff NW is also a great resource for food events, farmers market schedules and other great food and agriculture blogs.

“I think of GoodStuffNW as an online magazine centered around what it’s like to live in the Northwest. There’s a strong focus on food, which gives an opportunity to delve further into the people and resources of the land, the sea and the rivers
and the issues that affect those resources.”